As of 10/1/2011, the NCRA approved reductions to the size of all NC multistate project proposals.
For more specific information on the proposal size limits and sections affected, please see our revised Appendix A and B forms at the end of the NCRA Multistate Guidelines. Currently, these changes ONLY affect NC regional projects; projects from other regions remain the same.

As you complete your Objectives and Methods/Activties sections, please be clear as to who will be working on each project objective.

When available, we strongly recommend adding a section on how your Hatch funds will be leveraged with outside sources.

Mid-late December: All proposals are sent to NC regional review committees (NCACs) and multistate research committee (MRC)

Late March/Early April: Final project reviews and decisions made at the NCRA Spring meeting. The NCRA office will notify project AAs of results and send any requested revisions to project AAs by mid-April.

June 1: All proposal revisions must be completed in NIMSS.

Mid-July: the NCRA reviews all revisions and makes any remaining project decisions. When your project is approved, it will be assigned a new NC number unless a request to retain the old designation was submitted with the proposal.

Login into NIMSS at www.nimss.org. If you haven't logged into the new NIMSS yet (effective 12/14/2015), use your email address to reset your password under Forgot Password. Going forward, use your email address as your username and new password to log in.

Select Project Proposals >> Create New Proposal.

On the Basic Information page, select New only if the project is NOT a renewal of an existing project. Select Revision/Replacement if you are renewing an existing multistate project (most common).

For Renewals, select the appropriate project number. The title and all other information will automatically populate each text box.

Only for NEW proposals: Choose the correct Appendix from the second pull-down menu:

CC, ERA, or DC proposals â€“ Choose Appendix B (Includes an Activities and Procedures section in place of a Methods section)

500-series proposals (Rapid Response Committees) - Use Appendix F (Does not include a Methods Section, but does include a section to list the types of project activities expected, requires prior regional office approval. Please contact your regional office prior to starting a new 500-series proposal request.

NRSPs, select NRSP from the dropdown

Only for New projects: Type in the desired project title and enter the five year begin and end dates.

For all proposal requests, new and renewal: Enter the Issues and Justification in the appropriate text box then click Save, then Submit to RSA (this button is on the Outline page after clicking the Edit proposal button, in case you need to find it later) to submit the request to your regional office.Â Your regional office will enter the selected AA name and assign the proposal a temp number to use throughout the uploading and review process.Â Once the proposal has been fully regionally approved, the temp designation will be removed.

Typing/Pasting the Proposal in NIMSS

Anyone wishing to upload proposal or project materials in NIMSS needs to be granted editing access to the proposal. Please contact your AA or regional office (www.nimss.org/directory/regional_offices) to be granted editing access to a proposal or active project.

To begin uploading and editing a proposal, log into NIMSS and under Action Items, select My Project Proposals. You'll see several tabs here. Â To add and edit text, your proposal request needs to have first been RSA approved before it will appear in your Draft Proposals tab and be available for editing.Â If it is and you have editor access (assigned either by the AA or your RSA), then click Edit to access proposal sections.

After clicking the Edit button, you can navigate between sections via the links on the left. Be sure to save between each section!

Formatting Tips: We recommend you paste sections in as text, then use the text formatting options to add bold, underline, etc. Alternatively, you can paste directly from MS Word, but you may need to do a little extra editing to take out extra line breaks, etc. Be sure to click on the View Project occasionally to check formatting and edit sections as needed (don't forget to save between sections!). MS Word text often contains many hidden HTML tags that may affect how your proposal renders in View.

Figures, charts, and graphs may be attached to proposals using the "Attachments" link on the left side of the screen.

When you've uploaded all sections and you're ready to Submit as Final, go to the Basic (title, dates, advisors) section of the proposal and click the Submit as Final button. This action sends a notice to your regional system admin and AA informing them that the proposal is ready for review.

Completing Participation/Appendix E forms in NIMSS (due November 15)

Before starting, be sure the project’s Objectives section is complete. This section is required to appropriately populate the Appendix E form for a given project. See section III for instructions on uploading proposal sections.

For AES affiliated participants, Appendix E forms should be completed only with approval from your AES director’s office. Please contact your local AES office to ensure your continued participation on renewal project. Membership in the expiring project does NOT roll over automatically into the renewal.

For Extension participants, please contact your Extension director for approval to join an AES project. Your Extension office will need complete your Appendix E for you. Your institution’s AES may not fund your travel to project meetings, be sure to discuss this with them and your Extension office prior to joining a project.

For non-LGU affiliated members, contact your regional system admin to be added. We'll need to know your name, email address, company/institution, which project/proposal objectives you'll be associated with, and your KA, SOI, and FOS codes (or your general field of study, as it relates to the project)

When the proposal is in its final form, editors must click the Submit as Final button from the proposal's Basic (title, dates, advisors). This function notifies your RSA that the proposal is ready for review.

Along with the new proposal, all projects up for renewal MUST be sure all annual reports have been submitted. Please see our annual report instructions for more information. The final meeting report should be in the form of a summary/termination report.

All NC proposals are required to have the AA submit a completed review form in NIMSS by December 15.

The NCRA will assign this form to the AA in NIMSS. NIMSS will automatically notify the AA when this assignment has been made, along with instructions on where to find the form in NIMSS.

AAs should complete this form, Save, then Submit. The NCRA uses this review as a reference for our NCACs and MRC.

Approval Process for NC Projects by the NCRA and NIFA

NCAC Committees: For renewal proposals, the appropriate NCAC committee(s) is/are contacted by the System Administrator when the proposal has been submitted as final. For new proposals (no previous history), the AA should recommend appropriate NCAC committees to the NCRA office. The ED/AD will consult with the MRC to assign NCAC committees to review the project. In both cases, it is the AA's responsibility to make sure that the System Administrator receives the most up-to date version of the proposal to pass on to the appropriate NCAC committees, including Appendix E information.

After NCAC review, the NCRA MRC will also review each project, using the completed AA and NCAC review forms in NIMSS as guides.

Final project decisions and revision suggestions will be made during the NCRA Spring meeting held in late March/early April. Shortly after the meeting, revision requests will be sent to the project AA and listed editors. The project AA is responsible for sharing this information with the project members.

All requested revisions are due in NIMSS by June 1. Proposals will be returned to the Draft Proposal tab in NIMSS and can be edited by proposal editors and/or AAs.

When revisions have been completed, click the Submit as Final button again on the Basic (title, dates, advisors) page.

When the NCRA approves of all revisions, usually at the summer NCRA meeting, the proposal will be sent to NIFA for federal approval (NC-type projects only; NCCCs, NCERAs, and NCDCs do not require NIFA approval).

Once NIFA approves the project, the project will start on the first day of the next federal fiscal year, October 1.

The System Administrator removes the "temp" designation from the project and AES participants should begin the project initiation process in REEport.